The present invention relates in general to telecommunications signal processing and more particularly to a signaling link interface for processing signaling information in a telecommunications network.
In conventional signal transfer points of a telecommunications network, signaling information is received from a switch for processing in order to facilitate a connection for a telephone call. Typical processing performed by the signal transfer point on the signaling information includes message transfer part level two processing. The algorithms used to perform message transfer part level two processing are typically implemented in software. However, software solutions do not have adequate capacity and throughput capabilities. As such, the cost per port is relatively high. Further, many processors are needed to accomplish several tasks. Therefore, it is desirable to reduce the dependency that signal transfer points have on software implementations in performing signaling information processing.
From the foregoing, it may be appreciated by those skilled in the art that a need has arisen for the processing of signaling information that is not dependent on software solutions. In accordance with the present invention, a signaling link interface for processing signaling information in a telecommunications network is provided that substantially eliminates or reduces disadvantages and problems found in conventional signal transfer points.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a signaling link interface for processing signaling information in a telecommunications network that includes a high level data link controller for receiving signaling information from and providing signaling information to network elements in the telecommunications network. A link state controller performs message transfer part level two processing on the signaling information received by the high level data link controller. The link state controller uses a state machine for the message transfer part level two processing in order to provide a hardware implementation.
The present invention provides various technical advantages over conventional signal transfer points. For example, one technical advantage is to provide a hardware implementation for message transfer part level two processing. Another technical advantage is to use field programmable gate arrays for the hardware implementation. Yet another technical advantage is to provide individual link state information for each link carrying signaling information. Still another technical advantage is to provide remote access for downloading information to the field programmable gate arrays. Other technical advantages may be readily ascertainable to those skilled in the art from the following figures, description and claims.